Evaluation on the Effectiveness of Movement Control Order for COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

In early 2020, the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of a disease known as COVID-19 as a significant global threat. Various measures have been taken by countries worldwide, including Malaysia, to control the spread of this outbreak. Almost all countries have imposed movement control order (MCO), which included total lockdowns where all economic activities were halted. This study was conducted to examine the effects of MCO on the number of positive cases and deaths due to COVID-19. For this purpose, the effectiveness of MCO was evaluated using statistical methods, namely interrupted time series analysis. The results of the analysis found that the MCO was highly effective in combating the COVID-19 outbreak, with a reduction in positive cases and deaths by 98.89%. Furthermore, cluster analysis was conducted to classify states in Malaysia according to positive cases and deaths due to COVID-19 after MCO was implemented. The analysis showed that states in Malaysia could be grouped into four optimal clusters based on both criteria. In conclusion, this study has proved that implementing the MCO resulted in a reduction in the daily average of COVID-19 cases and provided insights to authorities for follow-up actions in high -risk states identified based on the analysis, even after MCO was implemented.